FINDING BIBLE TRUTH - BIBLE SOURCES

THE JEWISH BIBLE.

Our Old Testament is the Bible of the Jewish people. It consists of a series of texts gathered together at various times into groups or Canons. The first group is known as "The Law", the "Torah" or "Pentateuch" comprising the five books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. This started to be recognised as a formal 'canon' in the period after Ezra's return from Babylon around 458BC.

Tradition has it that these were written by Moses, but while they may perhaps contain some material written by Moses it is clear that the final redaction and canonisation must have taken place much later, although not later than Ezra. The conclusions from a great deal of critical study of the origins of the books of the Torah are given in the article on the Pentateuch; these are still sometimes considered controversial - read the evidence and make up your own mind.

The second canon is known as "The Prophets", and has nineteen books subdivided into the Former Prophets, containing the four historical works, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings, the Latter Prophets - the texts of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve Minor Prophets--Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.

It is clear that the works attributed to major Prophets such as Jeremiah are edited collections with some supplementary material. This work, and the formation of the group of books into the second canon is likely to have started soon after acceptance of the first. It is unlikely to have taken place before the break between the remnant of Israel (Samaria) and Judah that occurred during the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, since nothing of the prophetic literature seems to have been known to the Samaritans. On the other hand, the prophetic canon must have been closed by the time the Greeks had displaced the Persians as the rulers of Palestine in the late 4th century BCE. The omission of Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemiah, even though they supplement and continue the narrative of the Former Prophets, would otherwise be inexplicable. It may be noted that Daniel is also omitted although if the text of Daniel were contemporary with the events it describes it would precede some of the minor prophets that are included, such as Malachi, Haggai and Zechariah.

The third group, the "Wisdom" consists of religious poetry and wisdom literature - Psalms, Proverbs, and Job, a collection known as the "Five Scrolls" (Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther) and the books of Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah, and Chronicles. That the formation of the "Wisdom" books as a canon was not completed until a very late date is indicated by the absence of a fixed name, or indeed any real name, for this third division of Scripture. Ben Sira (around 175 BC) refers to "the other books of our fathers", "the rest of the books"; Philo speaks simply of "other writings" and Josephus of "the remaining books." An early widespread practice of entitling the entire Scriptures "the Torah and the Prophets" indicates a considerable hiatus between the canonisation of the Prophets and the "Wisdom". It is said that Greek words are to be found in the Song of Songs and in Daniel, Ben Sira omits mention of Daniel and Esther. No fragments of Esther have turned up among the biblical scrolls (the Dead Sea Scrolls) from the Judaean Desert. The collection was probably formally accepted as a canon around the time of the Jamnia meetings early in the second century.

In addition to these accepted canons there are collections of 'Apocrypha", works whose authority is not fully recognised, and of 'Pseudepigraphia', spurious works ostensibly written by a Biblical figure.

It should not be assumed that the books of the Jewish Bible as read today are unchanged from the original texts. Rabbinic traditions speak of text-critical activities of the Scribes in Second Temple times. They tell of differing readings of the Pentateuch, of official 'book corrections' in Jeremiah, of textual amendments.

After AD 70 when the centre of Jewish life and culture was destroyed with the fall of Jerusalem it was seen as essential for the unity of Judaism that the text of the Bible should be standardised, and to this end a Synod was convened at Jamnia (near Jaffa) around the beginning of the 2nd century. This resolved the acceptability of certain books, selected one set of texts from a number which were circulating at the time (but did not attempt to reconcile texts), and established the rules to be followed when copying.

Subsequently in the seventh century the body of Jewish scholars known as the Massoretes set out to clear the mass of problems that had arisen over questions of true pronunciation and hence the true interpretation of the sacred text. This was made necessary because the original Hebrew had virtually no vowel sounds, and the meaning of sequences of characters could vary according to the vowel sounds assumed. Although this 'fixed' the text more definitively than did the Jamnia Synod, the process was essentially an attempt to guess at an original that had been lost, and the results at times contradict early translations and the evidence from the Qumran documents. The best known alternative to the text selected at Jamnia is that which formed the basis of the Greek translation known as the Septuagint, which is in fact an assembly of translations made over the course of at least a century. The initial section (and perhaps the most reliable) was of the Torah - the first five books - done in Alexandria around 260 BC by (as is supposed) a group of 70 Jewish scholars. The other books of the Jewish Bible were added later by different translators who varied greatly in competence. The histories and major Prophets are thought reliable, the poetic works such as the Song of Solomon less certain. The Septuagint became the Bible of Greek speaking Jews, and with the rise of Gentile Christianity became the Bible of the early Church.

When the Septuagint began to be used by Christian theologians in disputes with the Jews it lost favour with the latter who created rival Greek translations. The most important of these was that of Aquila which appears to have been based on a text more in accordance with the Jamnia version than the earlier Septuagint. Others were Theodotion who used substantially different versions of Job and Daniel, and Symmachus. In the third century an Alexandrian named Origen compared these Greek texts and set about revising and correcting the Septuagint, bringing it more into agreement with the Jamnia (and later Massoretic) text. This Origen version has been preserved but much of the original unmodified Septuagint is lost.

Through all this it is apparent that the Septuagint in its original form, and in its more reliably translated sections, represents a significantly different textual tradition to the presently accepted Old Testament, and it is of more than passing interest to know which most accurately represents the original authors. Until translations of the Dead Sea Scrolls began to become available the Septuagint was always regarded as inferior, however these translations appear to reinforce the Septuagint against the current text as often as they support the current text against the Septuagint.

A simple illustration from Deuteronomy 32:43:

QUMRAN Rejoice, O ye heavens, with him and let all the angels of God worship him.

SEPTUAGINT Rejoice, O ye heavens, with him and all ye Gods worship him. Rejoice, O ye nations with his people, and let all the sons of God accord him strength.

MASSORETIC Rejoice, O ye nations with his people.

Also among the Dead Sea Scrolls is found a version of Jeremiah that matches the Septuagint, which is substantially different in content and organisation from the Massoretic version.

Another ancient but often corrupt text which can be used, albeit with caution, is known as the Samaritan Pentateuch, which may date from the establishment of a local Samaritan community in the 5th century BC. In some areas this also supports the Septuagint against the standard version. From Qumran have come fragments written like the Samaritan text in an ancient Paleo-Hebrew script which essentially confirms its genuineness.

Yet another useful text is the non-canonical "Book of Jubilees", which is an alternative reading of Genesis and the start of Exodus, drawing from a standard text that may be closer to the Septuagint than to the Massoretic tradition, but written in the Jewish Midrash mode in which the text is enlivened and explained by the inclusion of imaginative material or material from other traditional sources. Some substantial doctrinal differences would ensure that the book would always be regarded as apocryphal. The Book of Jubilees was written around 105 BC, almost certainly by a strict Pharisee who was a strong supporter of the Maccabean dynasty, as a supplement to, and exposition of the Pentateuch. The story of the Creation is presented as having been dictated to Moses on Mount Sinai, along with the tablets of the ten commandments.

It must be made clear that differences between versions are mainly matters of detail and are not going to change the essentials of the Bible. Where however scholars argue over the precise significance of a word or passage they must be aware of the possibility that it has been corrupted over the years. And supporters of the principle that the Bible cannot err must always consider that the particular item they are examining may not in fact be part of the original text.

THE OLD TESTAMENT OF THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE.

In the 4th century St Jerome, the leading Biblical scholar of his day, was commissioned by the then Pope to produce an acceptable Latin version from the various texts then available. He completed translation of the Gospels around 383 AD and then started to translate books of the Old Testament using the Septuagint as his source. Later he declared the Septuagint to be unsatisfactory and began translating the entire Jewish Bible from the best available sources, completing the work around 405 AD. This was the initial Vulgate, which after many later revisions bringing it into close conformity with the Massoretic text, remains in use by the Roman Catholic Church. It includes a number of Books (eg Tobit, Judith) considered apocryphal by other Churches.

When the Old Testament was translated into English (1611 -1618) to yield the King James version the main sources used were again based on the Massoretic text.

In conclusion it can be said that the Old Testament sections of the Christian Bibles are to all practical purposes the same as the present Jewish Bible.

THE NEW TESTAMENT.

Although there are a very large number of copies of copies of the originals of the writings of the New Testament in Greek, and of translations of these in Latin, none of these are even closely contemporary with the events they cover, while their quality varies widely. The best regarded of the Greek texts are those of Byzantine origin.

Erasmus, the Dutch Humanist, prepared the Greek text for the first printed edition (1516) of the New Testament, depending on a few manuscripts of the type that had dominated the church's manuscripts for centuries and that had their origin in Constantinople. His edition was produced hastily, sometimes using rather poor texts. During the next decades new editions of Erasmus' text profited from more and better manuscript evidence and the printer Robert Estienne of Paris produced in 1550 the first edition which had a listing of variant readings. This became known as the Textus Receptus (the received standard text) and came to dominate New Testament studies for more than 300 years. This Textus Receptus was the basis for all the translations in the churches of the Reformation, including the King James Version.

In spite of the different origins of the Roman Catholic and Protestant New Testaments, the many revisions over the years have produced a harmonisation, and today there is little significant difference between the two texts.

The fixing of the New Testament Canon was extended over many centuries. By the time of Origen (died 254) the Canon was in much the same form as it is today, although the inclusion of Revelation was resisted by the Eastern Churches. In the 4th Century Eusebius records that Revelation was widely considered to be 'spurious but not foul and impious'. Not until the Council of Trent (1645-63) can the Canon be regarded as finalised.

JUDAISM AND THE TORAH.

The Torah is the foundation of Judaism, and it might be thought that religious Jews would be united in a common view of its origins. This is not so, some divisions are:

TRADITIONAL The first five books (Pentateuch) were dictated by God to Moses, while Moses was in a conscious and aware state. Other sections were transmitted by a variety of means including dreams and visions.

LIBERAL The Liberal movements hold less with the notion of the Torah being the actual word of God, and more with the notion of the Torah being of divine inspiration, written in the language and context of its time.

CONSERVATIVE The Conservative movement teaches that the Torah is not one long quote from God, but rather is a human document that was written in response to God's revelation of himself to us at Mount Sinai. Some consider that any laws contained within it can only be considered as semi-Divine in origin, as they do not express God's will, but rather express our best attempt at understanding what God wants of us.

REFORM Reform Judaism uses the idea of progressive revelation. The Torah may be the product of divine inspiration, but it was written in the language and context of its time, and must be continually reinterpreted into today's language and context.

RECONSTRUCTIONIST Reconstructionist Jews believe that the Torah was not inspired by God in any way and is more the folklore of the Jewish people, albeit a folklore that is of the greatest importance.

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